Overview

Application deadline: You can apply at any time, but International applications must be made at least five months before your intended start date and Home/EU at least three months before your intended start date.

Entry requirements:
First or good second class honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate subject.

MPhil and PhD - Mechanical Engineering

Our research

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has a proud record of achievement in education and research. Our research impact was officially recognised in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). 89% of our research was graded as either world-leading or internationally excellent, placing us 10th in the UK for our submission to the Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Our research activities cover the full spectrum extending from fundamental investigations to applied research. Many of these activities are carried out in conjunction with industry and other universities, both in the UK and overseas.

Our applicants

We seek applications from outstanding individuals from anywhere in the world who are strongly committed to and potentially capable of high-quality academic research in any of the disciplinary areas covered by our Research Centres.

We encourage a wide range of interests. Academic staff are always open to ideas which extend existing work or introduce new topics to their existing subject areas.

Working with us

Successful applicants are welcomed very much as junior academic colleagues rather than students, and are expected to play a full and professional role in contributing to the Department’s objective of international academic excellence.

In many cases postgraduate projects are linked to industrial companies and are often carried out in collaboration with other departments within the University and other institutions. Postgraduates thus have the opportunity to work on interdisciplinary projects with a strong industrial relevance as well as on more fundamental engineering topics.

The dissemination of research findings is seen as a vital component of the research process and graduate students are encouraged to prepare papers for publication as part of their research training.

Further details

The MPhil and PhD programmes combine taught research training and applied research practice. Candidates join the Department as a member of the Research Centre in which they initially have a broad research interest and that will have overseen their acceptance into the Department.

Most research students who ‘do a PhD’ register in the first instance as probationer for the programme of PhD. Confirmation of PhD registration is subject to your passing an assessment process, which normally involves submission of written work and an oral examination.

Candidates are expected to carry out supervised research at the leading edge of their chosen subject, which must then be written up as a substantial thesis.

The final stage of the PhD programme is the oral or viva voce examination, in which students are required to defend the thesis to a Board of Examiners.

First or good second class honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate engineering, science or mathematics subject.